One across goes into sociology: A neglected feature of mass culture

Abstract

We are still waiting for a sociological study of crosswords. In diagnosing this as a significant deficit in the literature of sport and games, we might recall the libraries devoted to chess and bridge, let alone football or angling, in which aficionados can be informed on all aspects of their sport. Yet every day, not just at week-ends, millions of people sit at home and follow their favourite sport, with no distinguishing team colours or banners. Crosswords are indeed a mass sport (according to the Gallup Poll of 1970 there were 30 million crossword solvers in the USA), but their fans never hit the headlines either for their achievements or for their antisocial behaviour. Nevertheless, a sociology of crosswords has ample legitimacy in comparison with other branches of sports sociology. Both the puzzles and their potential solvers – their social class, gender and the crossword’s function in their work (or leisure) life – offer the researcher appropriate and fascinating material. It is striking that no sociologist yet appears to have taken cognisance of the field.